The Phantom Life
by Suou no Hanaya
Summary: After Ground Zeroes. Set during The Phantom Pain. Big Boss as protagonist.
1. Chapter 1

Dawn. The sun rises once again.

Everything was fine at Mother Base, or so it seemed.

When I woke up I thought it was just going to be another ordinary day, I didn't know how wrong I was.

When I first stepped out of my room and went to check on everyone at the Mess Hall, I was

abruptly called by Ocelot.

—Boss!

I turned to face him.

—What is it?

—Something was delivered by sea. It seems it drove itself here... some kind of pod.

—Pod? Where is it? Did you open it?

—We tried, but there's a password lock system, Huey's looking into it.

—Right, let's check on him.

We arrived at Huey's workstation, a 3 metres tall pod was standing in the centre of the huge room.

Various cables were attached onto it, near something that looked like a screen with a keyboard.

The cables were attached to several machines on the other end. Huey was intently working in one of them,

looking at the screen furiously.

Then he noticed our coming in.

—You guys won't believe this! — he was in a shocked state as he said it— This thing, this pod is the strangest

thing I've seen!

—How? — asked Ocelot.

—Every aspect of it is built like our bipedal weapon, Zeke.

—Are you saying it's like a Metal Gear?

—Yes, but... — there was a long pause, and Huey seemed disturbed — I'm receiving life signals from within.

Shock overcame us, could it be enemy infiltration? But who would send someone inside a pod to our base?

And who could be in there? And what was the pod itself? Does the possibility of it being an ally exist at all?

—We gotta open this right now, Huey, and then deactivate it. Or vice-versa, I don't know. — said I.

—That's what I've been trying for the past 3 hours, but I'm afraid I can't.

—What? — said Ocelot.

—Its defences are simply perfect. The only way to open would be... to input the password.

Preoccupation was taking over me, this definitely wasn't good, maybe we should just get rid of it, get it to

someplace far away and blow it to hell with a rocket or something.

Instinctively I moved closer to the pod, I noticed the screen with the keyboard.

What in hell could this password be? The keyboard featured only letters, so numbers were out of the

equation.

It was sent here, locked with a password. Whoever sent it wanted us to find it. It still hasn't attacked us,

so maybe it is an ally after all?

So maybe I'm supposed to know this password. I start thinking deeply about all this and then I feel like

touching the pod. I raise my left arm, and then I stop. I touch it with the right hand instead, and then...

The world goes black.

—Boss!

—Dammit! Why'd you go ahead and touch it carelessly? — said Huey.

—Arrnhg... I know it ... I know the password!

Huey and Ocelot look confused for a moment.

—Type in _-_-_-_.

—Are you serious? How can you know?

—No idea... I just... saw it in a vision or the like.

Huey rushes to the keyboard in his own machine connected to the pod and enters the password.

I get up and stare at the pod in anticipation. Ocelot grabs his gun and readies it, aiming for the pod.

Smoke starts coming from within it and something in the back starts to move. It's a door opening upwards.

We rush to the back when a human body falls to the ground.

—Wait! — says Ocelot. — Are you alive? Who are you? — moving towards the body, he crouches and moves it,

revealing a young girl.

—Paz?

—You know her? — asks Ocelot.

—I... don't know. — I vaguely remember Paz, my memory of her is a blur for some reason. —I thought she had

died...

—Is she breathing? — a voice came from the door.

We turn around to see Miller.

—Yeah. — confirms Ocelot.

—Then let's take her to the infirmary, hook her up and examine her. — he said in a harsh tone, almost angry.

—Kaz, do you remember what happened? She can't be alive...

—Yeah, that's why we'll examine her, and when she awakens, we'll get everything out of her.

I'm not sure what to feel myself, part of me is as angry as Kaz, but then again, I don't remember much about

her. Did she really betray us? What were her real allegiances? How could she be alive? And more importantly,

how did she and this pod come to wind up here?

It would take some time for her to awaken in the infirmary, and in the meantime Huey, Ocelot and the medic

proceeded to ask me how I came to know the password, what I saw in the vision and the like.

I was examined as well, nothing came up out of the ordinary, as expected, and Huey came back to

continue examining the strange pod. I sent some men there just in case the thing turned hostile all of

a sudden.

We made sure Paz was normal, physically and mentally and so we waited for her awakening.

And I thought, even wanted, that today would be just another ordinary day.

I went to the meeting room to continue planning our infiltration in Afghanistan, one of the best guarded bases

I've analysed, but we had a plan, and just enough resources to be able to pull it off.

Another solo operation, dangerous and silent, but the rewards would take us closer to our goal, in the end

that was all that mattered, to find Skull Face, and take revenge on what he did to us nine years ago.


	2. Chapter 2

—Paz?

She seemed to be awake at last. However, immobile, she stared at nothingness.

The medic swung his hand in front of her face. It seems that was enough to bring her mind back.

—What...? — said she.

Kaz wasn't present in the room. We forced him out because of his temper towards the situation.

But if I failed to extract information, he would surely be called.

—Paz, do you recognise me? — She looked intently at me as I said it.

After a brief moment she answered.

— Yes, you're Big Boss, and also... my objective.

—Objective? What do you mean? — I said, startled.

—I was sent here to warn you. About Cipher.

—Who is Cipher?

—He's... Zero, former Major Zero.

I was surprised. What could Zero be planning this time? Hasn't he done enough already?

Moreover, wasn't Paz in allegiance with Zero in the first place? Then maybe what is more important

is actually...

—First off, who sent you? — said I.

—I don't know. After you rescued me, I jumped off the helicopter, when I came to I was in a dark room, and

I never saw who had imprisoned me. All I heard was a voice that explained this mission. And I only

agreed to do it because you must know Zero's plans, and you must prepare accordingly.

—I see. — the validity of this information may be questioned, but for now we'll have to play along. — Then

what is so important about Zero?

—He...

* * *

—What? What are you saying? We obviously have to interrogate her! She knows more than that! I'm sure!

—No, we won't interrogate her, Kaz. — said I — We gain more in speeding the preparations for mission

code 3.

—Afghanistan? Why?

—I believe it was Skull Face who sent her.

—What? How come?

—He's the only one other than us who knew Paz was in our helicopter. The state she was, if she wasn't retrieved

immediately she would've certainly died. Also, she claimed to have another bomb hidden. That was most

likely... false. A set up in order to retrieve her, and, to leave us exposed.

Kaz was overcome by a serious expression. He slowly started to consider my words.

—Hmm... That would make sense... in a way. But I still think she holds more information.

—Even if she does, it's useless. Skull Face wouldn't send her here if she knew his location. But I believe

he might be closer to us than we imagine.

—And that's why...

—We need the info at that base. Mission code 3.

—Hah... — Kaz sighed — so what was that about Zero?

—It seems he... aims to control the world.


	3. Chapter 3

AFTER AFGHANISTAN MISSION

* * *

A huge room before me. No guards, no cameras, no machines. One room, one door, the one I came from.

In the centre of the room, the CND symbol painted on the ground.

I carefully proceeded to the centre and I immediately spotted a handle connected to the ground, a door

going down.

The ladder was so long I couldn't see the ground below, but I kept climbing downwards.

When I finally arrived, I saw it, a giant bipedal machine, reminded me of Zeke, however entirely different.

But by far the biggest difference was... its arms.

Suddenly the whole place lights up, and from behind it, appears a slender figure, in his head, a hat pointed

downwards, making it impossible to see his face.

I assume a fighting stance, a knife in my left hand, a custom handgun in my right hand.

But the slender figure doesn't move. Instead he laughs, echoing throughout the room.

What is going on?

—I've been waiting for you... — he says calmly, pronouncing each word separately.

—Who are you?

He smiled under the hat. Then he moved his hand to his hat and took it off, revealing a skeleton cranium.

My eyes widened. Anger flows through me.

—Skull Face!

—I suggest you don't move. — said he.

Immediately following, four bodies materialised out of thin air. In front of me, back, and sides. Surrounding me.

It was then I realised I'd've been caught in their trap.

* * *

An explosion. Coming from above. Everyone turned to look. Then we noticed the giant machine was

activated, and it was running towards me. Skull Face's soldiers dodged out of the way. I tried to dodge too

but the machine grabbed me with its right hand and flew upwards shooting missiles above us, making a way

to the outside.

We escaped, and from within the machine, Quiet stepped out.

—Right in time... as always. — said I.

She smiled.

I took a look inside the machine, it did seem similar to Zeke, and based on the intel we got in Afghanistan,

Quiet and I learned the basics of controlling it. There were three seats within, we entered and started

making our way back to Mother Base. Skull Face wasn't going to change locations anytime soon, he couldn't,

because he as well was being targeted by Zero.


	4. Chapter 4

Dawn. The sun rises once again.

Everything was fine at Mother Base.

When I first stepped out of my room and went to check on everyone at the Mess Hall, I was

abruptly called by Paz.

—Big Boss! — she was the only one to call me that.

I don't know if it's because she doesn't know about The Boss or maybe because that's what Zero calls me.

—What?

—Where're our old comrades?

—Why do you want to know? — I couldn't stop suspecting her, after all she still could be working with

Skull Face. I don't know if anyone would ever trust her again, and the ones who would... weren't here.

—I'm sorry, I just wanted to know because Chico... he... he did so much for me when we were there... and he's

my friend!

—He's gonna stay with Amanda for now... maybe for good. — I wasn't going to tell her anything more about

anyone else, and so I menacingly glared at her and walked away.

In the meeting hall everyone gathered to look over Operation Fifth for one last time. Everyone's positions

were clearly defined. The definitive strike at Skull Face was imminent.

Surely he would be better guarded this time, in terms of personnel and ballistics.

Tomorrow would be the day for retribution.

* * *

Being trapped in an underground fort with a giant war machine made him wearier, and so he reallocated

his defences to a more 'ground' area, but not unprotected one bit.

While making my way through the camp I realised why he chose this location, his main tent, where he would

probably be hiding were concealed naturally by a cañon, so the scope of his defences were still unknown.

Even though it seemed we had two functional bipedal machines at our disposition, Zeke would always

stay in Mother Base, and the retrieved one was feared to have automated remote controlled systems

that could be activated if we chose to invade the camp with it and possibly turn against us, so Huey

was tasked to analyse it extensively. So in truth we couldn't use either of them in this mission.

However, our biggest fear was that invisible Skeleton squad that Skull Face kept alongside him.

We still had no means of detecting them.

Perhaps the recovery of one of those soldiers was even more important than defeating Skull Face.

Luckily this time I wasn't solo. Quiet was with me, and true to her name, she'd been quiet enough, mimicking

my movements, staying on my toes as the perfect shadow.

We finally arrived at the main tent, cañons everywhere, anything could be concealed there.

As we moved closer, the sky turned darker, the wind stronger, and the air heavier.

It was then we saw, right in front of us, four bodies materialising, once again out of thin air. That would be

a hard battle.

* * *

—Huff... huff...

—... ... ...

We were exhausted, we had defeated all four of them and managed to Fulton a body to be examined at

Mother Base. But where was Skull Face?

Clapping sounds. That manic laugh again. But we couldn't see a thing. Skull Face... where are you?

It came from behind a cañon. That bipedal machine. With arms just like the other one.

From within came his voice.

—Once again, I applaud you. — said Skull Face.

A sound breaking noise ripped through my ears. Disoriented and losing equilibrium, I saw Quiet fall to the ground,

her skin turning red. What is going on?

The machine started running towards me, shooting its gatling gun. Some kind of force made me stand up

and run. And I ran. Arriving at a bifurcation, I turned left on a narrow path. Luck was on my side.

The giant machine got stuck in the rocks. I aimed my weapon and shot it like a madman.

* * *

It blew up. Arms, legs, weapons and metal parts flew away from the explosion.

All that was left was the central pod, the most protected part of the machine. The pod was half open and

inside was Skull Face. As I got closer to it, Skull Face kicked the half destroyed door and jumped out of

the pod, running towards me.

I instinctively pulled the trigger on my submachine gun, hitting his guts, he, however had gotten close enough

and as he fell his hands grabbed my face.

For the first and last time, I looked in his eyes and I saw... I saw everything.

* * *

"I was born in a small village. I was still a child when we were raided by soldiers, foreign soldiers.

Torn from my elders I was made to speak their language. With each new post, my masters changed,

along with the words they made me speak. With each change, I changed too. My thoughts, personality,

how I saw right and wrong... words can kill.

America is a country of liberty, a meeting of immigrants. Instead of simply assimilating, its' citizens live

alongside others. So Cipher sought a system that used information... words, to control the subconscious.

But I have a plan, and with it, I'll rid the world of infestation.

Without language, the world will be torn asunder... and then, it shall be free."

* * *

I stayed there for what seemed like a long time. Repeating his words to myself.

He found a way to counter Zero... Cipher's plans... A way to free the world from control...

from duty... from the rules of nations... from the Philosophers.

Suddenly I came back to reality, I looked down and where Skull Face was supposed to be... there were ashes.

He couldn't have escaped. Did his body immaterialise? What was Skull Face after all?

I guess we'll never know now.

Then I remembered Quiet and rushed back to where she was. She seemed unconscious.

Her skin was coloured with red stripes all over. It wasn't blood, but I had no idea what caused it.

I knew, however, that we better get out of here as soon as possible, after all, the mission could

be considered a success.


	5. Chapter 5

Quiet was taken care of and awoke in the helicopter. Her skin slowly started to regain normal colour.

As we arrived in Mother Base everyone gathered in anticipation of good news. As I saw their energy

I declared:

—Mission Complete!

And I heard a cheerful ovation from everyone. As well as congratulations from Ocelot, Kaz, Huey, and the others.

Amidst those sounds I started wondering myself. How do I feel? I finally have my retribution, but

was it really what we needed? So many deaths, so many injured in that attack at Old Mother Base, including

me... Why did Skull Face do that? What was his objective? I proceeded to my room while deep in thought.

I looked myself in the mirror when I saw... Skull Face. I quickly turn around... nothing.

I turn back at the mirror. Just me. Just my reflection... but something's different.

This metal piece in my head... is it bigger now? The medic said it could eventually break and disappear.

But could it grow bigger? I was lost and exhausted, so I decided to sleep for now.

* * *

We gathered at the infirmary to examine the body of a soldier from the Skull Face's skeleton squad.

The results were more than promising. Though, some peculiarities remained a mystery.

Like the strange earphone stuck in the soldier's throat, its wire connected to a device similar to a radio,

emitting, in fact, radio signal waves.

The soldier's pupils grey as fog suggested some kind of mental control, and that too, was a mystery.

With that concluded, we would move on to an interesting situation.

Someone was trying to contact us. They were sending us encrypted messages.

After much intel gathering and decryption processes run by our departments, we finally figured out the

coordinates of somewhere in Africa, and also the words: 'Cipher is enemy.'

If they also considered Cipher an enemy, then maybe it would be worth it to establish contact.

Once again this would be a solo operation, but I was ready for that, in fact I've been waiting for it,

craving something like this for some time now. Skull Face's words still echoed in my head.

Cipher definitely needs to be brought down, he sullies The Boss's memory with each passing day.

* * *

Their base seemed impenetrable. Their guards too vigilant, as if they were expecting something.

As I was considering the guns blazing approach, I received a call. Unknown.

—Who is this? — said I.

On the other side, a raspy voice answered.

—You're already here, it seems. The guards have been notified. Please make your way in. We're not enemies.

The call was cut. Should I believe him? Could it be a trap? Why does he want me to go in there anyways?

Couldn't he just say it over the radio?

No. Cipher sees all. Cipher hears all. This could be a bad decision, but it is our only lead at the moment.

I assured myself of this, and stood up, making my way into their base.

* * *

Once inside I was directed to a large tent. Through the tent there was an opening to a place beyond the camp,

a way only reachable through that specific path.

Beyond there were rocks and eventually a river. On the river's left side there was the entrance to a cave.

I stopped as I reached the entrance. A raspy voice came from inside.

—Come in... Big Boss.

I cringe at the nickname. He already knows me. The advantage's all his.

Inside, there are dozens of candles as well as what seems to be a shrine and markings on the walls and the

ground.

Standing still is an old man. White hair. I presume the owner of the raspy voice.

—You already know me. And you...

He smirks.

—People call me... Code Talker. As for me knowing you... well, I'd say you're quite famous, even here.

—Why'd you call us here? What do you know about Cipher?

His face contorted as he heard Cipher.

—Calm down. Join me for a smoke first. — he took a pipe from a balcony.

I took my e-cigar out of my pocket.

—You can't be serious. Put that away. Here. — he handed me the pipe already lit.

—Cough... cough... cffff...

—Pfft... youngsters.

—So...

—Yes, I know... Cipher... Say, do you know exactly what he's planning? — said he.

—More or less. First, is he your enemy?

—Yes, and not just ours. The whole world's his enemy. What he aims to do... is to control humanity, to make

them bend to his will... but for that he needs an icon of trust, something to disseminate his ideas.

—Who could he be working with?

—It's not who. It's what. Since ancient times, every civilisation's ruler has had the same idea.

When people unite under one will, they become stronger than the sum of their parts.

And what do rulers use to bring people together? Language.

—He's... turning the world against itself! — I'm suddenly reminded of Skull Face's words — using

words to control their subconscious!

—Yes, but that's not all. There's something else. Something related to you directly.

—Me? What?

* * *

—Les Enfants Terrible. Zero called it.

—And what is that exactly? — asked Kaz.

—A project, a horrible experiment... the creation of clones. — Clones of myself.

But I wouldn't tell him that.


End file.
